Most textile fabrics are conventionally shipped and handled in tightly wound rolls. Such fabrics are generally durable and may withstand the stretching and pulling from the winding process and compression of the roll. However, some textile materials such as woven velvet fabric have fibers which project outwardly from the plane of the fabric and which may be readily crushed. If the fabric is crushed it has a less appealing appearance and texture, and therefore has reduced saleability. Accordingly, great care must be taken during shipping and handling of such fabrics to prevent such permanent damage to the fabric.
It is current practice for shipping such fabrics to loosely wind the readily crushable fabric onto a shipping support which is provided in a box. For many purchasers, this practice has worked quite well and there is no reason to change. However, for fabric retailers, such as retailers selling small quantities of fabric to the consuming public, this practice has not been satisfactory. The problem is that the velvet must be transferred to a hanger more suited for displaying the velvet. Such display hangers are typically metal and consist of a horizontal bar with a medially positioned hanger hook and fabric impaling hooks at opposite ends of the horizontal bar. The velvet fabric is impaled on and suspended from the impaling hooks and the hanger is supported on a display rack with other fabric samples in a display like arrangement. The retailers, however, must manually transfer the fabric from the shipping support to the hangers which requires considerable time. It should be apparent that if a retailer intends to have a substantial variety of fabrics on display for sale, then there would be a large quantity of fabric in need of being transferred to a display hanger. The retailer, of course, would prefer to receive the fabric material on the display hanger, however the velvet fabric would be wrinkled and crushed if it were shipped on such a display hanger.
Berkowitz U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,720,324 and 3,844,499 both disclose an assembly for supporting textile fabric which is designed for shipment in a carton. The assembly comprises a hanger made from metal and being very similar in design to the conventional display hanger used by a retailer as described above. In addition, the assembly includes a generally vertical post and a base connected to the post for supporting the hanger in a spaced relationship from the base. Berkowitz, however, does not provide a fully satisfactory assembly for shipment. The post is held in place by the tension applied on the fabric hooked on the assembly. The assembly is unstable until the fabric is secured thereto. Moreover, if the post were to become displaced during shipment, the fabric would collapse to the bottom of the carton, thus becoming wrinkled and crushed under its own weight and the weight of the hanger. The post also provides no resistance to horizontal displacement of the fabric relative to the hanger or base.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hanger for shipping and thereafter displaying a readily crushable textile material which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art as noted above.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a package for shipping readily crushable textile material in which convolutely wound textile material is securely held in full width condition to prevent crushing or wrinkling thereof.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method of handling and packaging the textile material for securely shipping the material without wrinkling or crushing.